"L... Luveria?" Iliya said in surprise. The intervening years after the Crusade had given the older solider a much needed rest and he seemed healthier for it. The only time Ky had met Iliya was near the end of the war, during that single offensive in Rome, where they had finally caught Justice in the prison dimension. He, like many other soldiers, were physically, emotionally, and mentally tired from the constant warfare.
Iliya's daughter nodded as she tried to catch her breath. "Yes, dad. It's me."
Her father looked from her to Ky and blinked in surprise, not expecting the former leader of the Holy Order to appear at his doorstep alongside his adopted daughter.
"Sir Morourmetz," Ky said between breaths and a nod of respect.
Iliya's joy at seeing his daughter again quickly dissipated when he saw their clothes, their shortness of breath, and the harried appearance. He looked around the clearing where his house was and noticing no one near, he said, "Come in, Sir Kiske. There's quite a bit that you have to tell me... and more you'd like to know, I imagine."
Ky nodded in agreement. Ever since Dizzy had told him that Iliya Moroumetz was her father, he wanted to know the reasons why he continued to treat Dizzy as though she was of his blood. He had a sneaking suspicion that Iliya knew that she was a Gear since the day he got her, and yet continued raising her as his own.
Stepping in, Ky and Dizzy noted the smell of vegetables and meats being cooked from the kitchen. Dizzy's eyes lit up as she started running towards the source of the scent. "Hey, mom. It's Luveria! I'm back!"
Ky stopped his advance when he noticed Iliya standing still when Dizzy mentioned her mother. A sense of dread quickly grew in the pit of his stomach.
"Mom?" Dizzy's voice echoed through the house. When he noticed Iliya leaning against the wall, his hunch was becoming more and more likely.
"Dad, where's mom? Isn't she around?" Dizzy said running back to the hallway where Ky and Iliya stood. Her confusion turned to fear when she saw her father's forlorn face.
"Luveria... your mother... she passed away about three months ago..." Iliya quietly said, hoping to soften the blow of his announcement.
Ky looked down and offered a silent prayer as Dizzy, shocked into silence at the news, tried to keep her balance. At only four years old, Dizzy had not only lost her mother once, but now twice. Here, she hoped to have a chance to catch up with what she missed during her time with the pirates. How she wanted to come back and spend time with her beloved parents. Now, Velija Moroumetz was gone.
"How did it happen?" Ky asked as calmly as he could. He was no stranger to being the bearer of bad news to the family members of those that had died under his command. Yet, the heavy atmosphere never lessened whenever he encountered the sobs and wails of agony of losing one they loved most.
Iliya motioned for them to follow him to the main room, and when they had taken their seats, Iliya began, looking at Ky straight in the eye. "Are you familiar with the condition Magica Toxica?"
The name was familiar to Ky. He had heard only the name in passing when he had seen some of the Order soldiers fighting against Gears for an extended amount of time. Still, not knowing much more than the name, he shook his head.
Iliya interlaced his fingers together. "From what I've learned, it's a cancer that shuts down your nervous system and body functions after being repeatedly exposed to magic over a long period of time."
Ky's hand drifted over his sword. "But what about the Outrage? Those themselves are a powerful magnets to the magic they use."
Iliya nodded and continued, "That's because the weapons take the magic from nature itself and 'refines' them to the magic that we use everyday. Also, most of the magic used is refined."
"So, how did she contract this disease?" Ky asked a bit more tersely than he would have liked.
Iliya looked to the table separating he, his daughter, and his former commander. "It was during the war, just after we had met. At that time, everyone thought that magic was as it was and to be used. However, what we didn't know was that unrefined magic, though very helpful to the Healer's Caste, was extremely dangerous. It was only after the war did news of refining techniques came to be. When the disease is contracted, it spreads slowly and silently. It doesn't begin to show itself until after the infected separate themselves from the consistent exposure to magic."
There was still something that didn't quite fit as Ky asked, "So, she started to show signs of it when the war ended."
Iliya nodded as Dizzy looked to floor in sorrow. "Yes. About a year and a half afterwards, she started to lose the ability to walk. It steadily got worse until she could barely stand."
Dizzy's eyes widened as she asked, "Wait... then how come she seemed to healthy to me when I was here?"
Iliya turned to her and replied, "I don't know... yet, it seemed miraculous. One week after you arrived, she seemed healthier. A month after that, she was walking under her own power."
The atmosphere in the room had lightened a bit, all things considered, and Iliya offered, "Luveria... would you like to see your room? We haven't changed anything. Just in case you came back when we didn't know it."
The smile returned to Dizzy face as she nodded, stood up and walked out to the hallway leading to the rooms at the other end of the house.
Amid the reunion, Ky still felt there was something missing. And with Dizzy gone, he asked quickly and quietly, "Do you suppose it has something to do with her blood and the fact that she's part Gear? Do you think that may have had something to do with her recovery?"
Iliya turned back to Ky and with a bit of reproach in his voice, answered, "Yes. And I can tell what you're going to ask next, Sir Kiske. Since the day she came into mine and Velija's care, we knew she was a Gear. No, a half-Gear. It didn't matter what part of her was a Gear, she is still our daughter."
Ky didn't back down as he pressed. "In spite of the persecution you had to endure?"
A frown appeared on Iliya's aged face. "Yes. I would have fought the entire town to protect her, even with the faulty Earth Seal."
"Speaking of which..."
"It's still here. The UN had no desire to retrieve a broken weapon."
Putting that particular matter aside, Ky asked further, "I need to ask, what happened on the day Dizzy appeared?"
Iliya did not meet Ky's eyes for a moment. Yet, he relented and slowly started to reiterate the tale.
The snow was falling softly, but thankfully no wind to drive the temperature down further, and Iliya, lying in his bed next to his wife, watched the slowly lazily. The weather was pleasant, but it still could not ease the anxiety he felt concerning Velija.
His rest was disturbed when he noticed a shadow moving from behind a few of the trees near his window. He couldn't make out exactly who it was, but he had a bad feeling about being watched during his slumber. He stood from his bed, and as quietly as he could, got himself dressed, and armed with his defective weapon.
His boots were the only source of noise in the vicinity as he moved over the cobblestone path and into the woods. The snow gradually clung to his coat and in spite of all his precaution, Iliya still felt like he was being watched. He held the Earth Seal at the ready as he started to march to the edge of the woods.
"Good evening, Sir Moroumetz," a voice from behind said calmly.
Surprised, Iliya whirled around was about to swing his hammer into whomever had surprised him, only to find himself paralyzed. It seemed his paranoia in the war had yet to truly vanish. In front of him, a man hunched over and hidden in a cloak with his face masked in shadow, said, "I apologize, Sir Moroumetz. Though, one would say that that is not the best way to treat a guest who bears gifts."
Iliya soon found himself able to move again, but his weapon had moved backwards and fell onto the ground. He stumbled back against a tree and tried to catch his breath, not knowing what it was to be like in the grip of whatever he had just experienced.
"Gifts?" Iliya managed, "What gifts? Who are you? What are you doing here?"
The man in the cloak seemed solemn with a heavy air of sadness about him as he answered, "One could say that I was trying to prove my repentance before God." He reached into his voluminous cloak and pulled out what appeared to be a baby, wrapped in white and black blankets. The man held up the child in both arms and said to him, "This child is for you."
Iliya was at a loss for words at the man's words. He looked down to see the baby, probably a month old by the looks of it. With his own son lost a long time earlier, he would have lied if he had no desire to be a father again, even in his advancing years. The disturbance of their conversation caused the baby's eyes to flutter open and gentle red eyes looked up to Iliya. The baby started to coo and reach up to him, as though it recognized him as her parent.
Iliya nearly gasped at the sight. He had never seen a baby with red eyes before... No... it couldn't be.
The man in shadows nodded. "It is as you suspect. She is a Gear."
Iliya's eyes widened in shock and then back to the baby. How! How could there be a Gear that looked liked a human! For a moment, he looked beneath the baby's eyes to remember all the horrors he saw in the war. However, before the flashbacks got worse, the man placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Don't let the fact she's a Gear prevent you from looking past the surface. She has the capacity to be just as human as anyone else. Moreso, in fact, than many will ever realize."
He looked to the baby again, finding his resolve weaken at the baby's cooing and attempt to reach him with her tiny hands. The greatest blow he had ever taken as a parent was when he had witnessed his only son dying a decade and a half earlier. And being as old as he was with his wife, they could not hope to have another child, nor would the U.N. let him adopt, due to his record on the battlefield. It was far too tempting for him to accept the baby, regardless of the fact her very existence was a contradiction in terms.
Giving in to his paternal instincts, he reached forward and gently took the baby in his arms. The baby smiled more as he carefully adjusted the infant in his arms. Soon, he couldn't help but smile back at the child, feeling much warmer on that cold winter evening. He looked up to the man that had given him the baby and asked,
Iliya looked back to the baby to the man and asked, "So, how exactly did she come to be?"
The man interrupted him, his voice becoming quiet again, "She is a child, born of dark and light. She is the hope of the world greater than even I could ever imagine."
He looked to the man once more and asked, "but why me?"
The man looked to the ground and said in a calm and quiet voice, "Why not? Besides, I know that you lost your own son in the war. Perhaps you can consider this the chance you never had."
Looking back to the infant, he allowed himself a smile for the first time in a long while. However, when he remembered Velija back home, he said to the man, "I thank you, but, I do not think I can take care of this child when my own wife is struggling to live."
The man remained unperturbed in his reply, "Are you so sure? Perhaps your wife would benefit from having her here more than you would think." Before Iliya could protest again, the man literally floated back into the dark shadows of the forest, leaving the perplexed Iliya alone with the newborn still giggling happily in his arms.
Ky looked to the ground in thought. There was no mistake. It was That Man that Sol continued to talk about. The very source of all the answers that everyone wanted.
"It was him?" Dizzy said from the hallway. Both men turned to see the half-Gear with an almost spooked expression on her face.
"You met him? You met That Man?" Ky asked, almost desperate for confirmation.
She nodded. Before Ky could ask more, she quickly asked, "Mr. Kiske, dad... I know I just got back, but... can I take a walk outside? I won't go far and I won't be long? I just need to think about some things..."
Ky was about to deny her request, when he realized where exactly they were. If the Bureau and the Shadow Hearts were doing all they could to track them, then perhaps they would not have known their location for now. In addition, the pleading look in her eyes, along with the possibility that she deserved a chance to prove that she could take care of herself was needed. In addition, he doubted her father would take to him denying her that freedom very well. So, he relented and said, "Be careful. Come back at the first sign of trouble, alright?"
She smiled morosely as she answered, "I will and thank you."
They watched her exit the house and move on the goat paths through the grass that lead into town. In spite of all this, Ky still had his reservations about letting her go by herself, no matter how much of her power she had gotten under control. If the townspeople still remembered what she looked like, then there could be trouble. But he knew that she could change her hair color again, and though his worries eased a bit, he wouldn't feel safer until they left Porvoo.
He stood up from his seat and stood by the window, as Iliya watched him from behind. The older solider had wondered exactly how Kliff Undersn's heir had come to be the present guardian of his daughter, especially considering he was the one that found the young man when his home was destroyed in a raid by some of Testament's gears.
"So tell me," Iliya asked quietly, "Exactly what happened to bring Luveria into your care? Last time I checked, she was with some pirates."
Ky turned to the older soldier and said, "Quite a bit. To be honest." He knew there were some things he could not touch upon, like his involvement with the Shadow Hearts, the attack on the factory, and the fact that there was a large bounty on his head.
The thought that he was in his own personal war against an organization that kept vanishing was another thing that was better left silent. For all he knew, Iliya may as well thought that he was going crazy, like everyone else he worked with. To top it all off; he knew there was some bad blood between them.
During the war, everyone thought Iliya would be the next in line to take the reigns of command after Kliff had retired, but shocked everyone when he had chosen Ky instead. It was a great surprise, since everyone believed the more experienced Iliya Moroumetz had the ability to finally defeat Justice, despite not being as powerful as Kliff.
In fact, because Iliya hadn't done anything else to him was slightly surprising. They had not met or cooperated much before Rome and until then, their interaction was sporadic at best. It had only gotten worse when he had been promoted to the leadership of the Holy Order. Many of his compatriots had treated him coldly and he knew why. Among those, was Iliya, but he simply kept quite and did his job without giving much consideration to Ky's opinion when it came to battle.
"Is there something you wish to ask, Sir Kiske?" Iliya asked cordially. A quick glance to Iliya's aging features suggested the man was more interested in either returning to sleep or getting the truth, as opposed to opening old wounds, as Ky had supposed.
Ky quickly shook his head and then replied, "If anything, I should have asked you that. It seems like you would like to know a bit about what happened after Luveria left here."
The aging soldier nodded. "Yes. Though, I suppose I could hear everything from her, but it would be best to wait for her to tell me. Please, tell me what happened when she came into your care."
"Very well," Ky answered as he began to slowly reiterate the tale of when Sol brought Dizzy to his doorstep almost three months ago.
So immersed was Ky in the tale, wondering if he should relate the incident when he had nearly killed Luveria due to a freak accident, that he failed to notice a pair of color switching eyes were watching him and Iliya through the window.
The town appeared to remain as it was since the time she had left it. There was still the bakery on the other side of the fountain and herbalist right next to it. Dizzy noted, it a bit of nostalgia, that she enjoyed being there when she played with the other kids nearby.
The central square was barren, all the shops were closed, and the broken fountain in the center of the town still had more vines encircling it. She remembered the first and only town meeting she had attended where several people considered getting that old thing fixed, but it didn't lead anywhere. It looked like it still didn't amount to anything. She ran her hand on the edge of the fountain, over the dried vines and the still vibrant ones as she took a seat.
Looking from each individual house and to the moon, she wondered if she would ever be welcome here again. She had been gone a while, and if the people had a chance to leave her parents alone, maybe they would have just let it go. However, the voice of that spectre that continued to haunt her spoke otherwise. And she had a hard time trying to deny it.
"Luvie? Is that you?" a boy's voice asked her, using a nickname she had received in her infancy.
She looked up and discovered to her surprise, Olaf, the boy that had invited her to play so often when she was younger was the one that had asked her. He was the first friend she had made when she first starting to interact with the other children and didn't really notice her rapid growth until her mother had forcefully prevented him from playing with her.
She took a quick look at the thirteen year old boy, with a bag hoisted over his shoulder filled with books, and said with a smile, "Yeah, Olaf. It's me."
Olaf blinked once and rubbed his eyes. "Wow… you got big really fast." It almost appeared that the fact she was a Gear never registered.
She clasped her hands together and said with a bit of melancholy, "Yes. Didn't your mom tell you? I'm a Gear." She didn't even realize that she was telling him all this with such nonchalance. When the words escaped her mouth, she quickly covered her mouth and looked to him, practically expecting the backlash.
Instead, Olaf shrugged. "My mom didn't tell me anything. All she said was to stay away from you. She never said anything about Gears."
Surprised at the casual response, she pressed, "Doesn't it bother you that I'm a Gear?"
Olaf shook his head and asked, "You're still Luvie, aren't you?"
The question took her completely off-guard. She knew she was Luveria Mouroumetz, and even Dizzy, the Jellyfish Pirate. But, for a moment, perhaps she didn't really think about acting like the person she wanted to be. Ever since she realized that people feared her, a nagging feeling kept her at odds with those around her. In retrospect, it all seemed so absurd.
Looking back to him, she smiled and said, "Yes, I am. Thanks, Olaf."
Her smile caused the young man to blush a bit and he suddenly found eye contact a bit more difficult. Knowing what the cause of it, she knelt in front of him, wrapped her arms around his smaller shoulders, and kissed his cheek. It seemed that as long as there were people like Olaf around, perhaps she'd still have a chance to come back.
Olaf's face was starting to appear more like a tomato as he tried to formulate a response. His speech quickly came to a stutter and had a hard time trying to keep himself upright. Dizzy settled him with her hands on his shoulders and said, "Thanks again, Olaf. I don't want to, but I have to leave again. It was kind of an accident that I came back, so I need to leave soon."
The announcement made the boy break out of his reverie as he asked, "You're leaving again?" She nodded. His initial elation at seeing her back evaporated as he questioned, "Are you ever going to come back?"
She stood up and said with a smile, "Yes. I want to come back. It's too hard now, but I know I can come back someday. I'll just have to wait for it."
As she started walking back to her father's house, Olaf said after her, "Make sure to visit us, ok?"
She turned, smiled again and nodded. "I will. You can count on it. I'm looking for some friends of mine and if I find them, I'll bring them here. You'll like them."
He smiled back and nodded. Turning back to his home, he scampered off as fast as his little legs could carry him, evidently more jubilant than before.
"It's a fool's dream, you realize," the bitter voice of the ghost muttered appearing out of the shadows. "They will never accept you as one of their own."
Dizzy turned to the red-haired apparition and frowned. "You never give up, do you?" Dizzy said with clear agitation in her voice.
"Only because you're too blind to see the truth," the other woman said evenly.
As tempting as it was to yell at the illusion, Dizzy stood her ground and said with a tone of finality, "It doesn't matter what you think. I am not listening to you, I will not listen to you, and unless you stop, I will find a way to stop you. I will not let you harm my friends."
For a tense moment, Dizzy locked eyes with the image with complete defiance. She would not give in to whatever her opponent had in mind and would keep fighting against her.
The other woman's eyes narrowed and she whispered in a cryptic tone, "unfortunate... because that will be the last mistake you will ever make." With that, the image slowly vanished piece by piece into the darkness. The way it vanished was longer than before and despite the nagging feeling Dizzy had, she breathed a sigh of relief that it was gone at last.
Immediately, her ears picked up the sounds of struggle. Some glass being broken, tree bark crushed, heavy breathing of familiar voices. She turned to the source of the sounds, noting with great apprehension that it was coming from her father's house.
Utilizing her levitation, not caring if anyone saw her or now, she propelled herself forward as fast as her power could. In her stomach, a fear started to grow quickly. She couldn't quite explain it, but a danger was threatening her father and Sir Kiske. Worse yet, it was a danger that seemed quite familiar.
Ky struggled to keep his balance as he and Iliya were ambushed by a sonic boom that literally blew in the glass windows of Iliya's home. From almost nowhere, the familiar woman, dressed in red with the guitar had attacked them both. Very little of Iliya's possessions and home were spared as they tried to drive the attacker back.
During every other swing, I-No would giggle and ask a single question before attacking again. "Where is she?" Ky had a feeling she was referring to Dizzy and since he and Iliya had no inclination to tell her, she only resumed and doubled the intensity of her rampage.
Ky had met this mentally unstable woman in the past, somewhere... he couldn't recall. But he knew this woman. It held a significance that he could not put his finger upon. It was almost as if his life had depended upon this woman. Yet, that did not justify her attacking them in search of Dizzy for whatever reason she had.
With the Thunder Seal raised, he charged in attempt to draw her out with a faint, failed as she pushed him back as she struck a very dissonant chord. The sound was literally pain in his ears as he tried to shut the sound out. For reasons he couldn't fathom, he felt his legs failing him and his body becoming immobile. It seemed that I-No held a power that he couldn't compete with now, but he couldn't simply lie down and let her do as he pleased. Both he and Iliya would not let her try to attack Dizzy, which is what it seemed she wanted to do.
"What do you intend to do with her?" Iliya, armed with the Earth Seal growled as he wound up his torso to meet another charge. I-No only snickered and at the last second, dodged the head of the hammer, thrust her knee into his stomach, backhanded him in the face with her free hand, and with her other hand, swung the flat end of her guitar against the old soldier. Iliya, not as strong as he used to be, lost his grip on his weapon and tumbled along the ground. After a few rolls, he came to a stop against the skeleton of his ruined house. Struggling to remain conscious, he looked up to see their assailant take advantage of his prone position to kick him once in his exposed stomach, and then again in his face.
"Shut up, gramps. If you won't tell me where she is, then I guess there's no reason for me to not whack ya," I-No said, rising her guitar like an executioner's axe. She would have brought the guitar down, but she was interrupted when a fist plowed into her cheek and literally tossed her off her feet and into a nearby tree.
Being caught by surprise, she shook her head to get her focus back. When her eyesight returned, she was greeted with the sight of Dizzy towering over her. The half-Gear was shaking, taking loud and deep breaths like an enraged animal, her fists were clenched to the point of nearly drawing blood, her jaw was clenched, her eyes literally shone in the dark like burning coals, and a very familiar insignia burned on her forehead.
For all the horrors and disasters I-no had witnessed, very little surprised or worried her. She had faced Dizzy in the past and though she had lost, it was just another encounter she had shrugged off. She craved the pain and fear of those she had terrorized and would only seek more of it. Normally, she feared no one, but this was an exception.
I-no was scared.
End of Chapter 13
Notes:
I'm not dead, yet! I have this story planned out and I have no intention of stopping now! I just need a little break every now and then thanks to the thing that we call, uh, 'real life'.
Much of this chapter didn't require as much thought as did previous chapters because this is simply the set-up chapter for the quote, 'MAJOR PLOT POINT' un-quote. I mean, just the day before, I didn't plan on bringing Olaf back for a cameo the way I did. Also, the name 'Magica Toxica' was made up by Samuraiter, since he knows latin and I don't. Kudos to him. Most of the fore-thought came from the ending and the subsequent chapter. But, in spite of the brief hiatus I need to take to write a one-shot I was challenged by Samuraiter, I do believe the next chapter will not take four months to write. I promise. :p
All things Guilty Gear unless otherwise indicated, belongs to Daisuke Ishiwatari.